


Pass the Baton

by Grumpy_Old_Snake



Series: Snippets from a Self-indulgent Sickfic [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dizziness, Fainting, Gen, HP as a plot point, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Lazy Author, Minor Alphys/Undyne, POV Second Person, POV Undyne, Present Tense, Puns & Word Play, References to Illness, Self-Indulgent, Sick Sans, Sickfic, Undyne Swearing, Undyne is tired of this shit, Undyne tries her best, Worried Papyrus, a bit of exposition, background alphys/undyne - Freeform, because I am a stubborn soul, fatigue, i did my best anyway, in which the skelebro's relationship is not based around keeping secrets (from each other), magic theorizing, monster biology theorizing, not a reader insert; 'you' is Undyne, presyncope, puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-24 07:30:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13208925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grumpy_Old_Snake/pseuds/Grumpy_Old_Snake
Summary: In which Papyrus is on the mend, Undyne ponders her living situation, and Sans is tired.Perfect time to throw a slumber party, right?





	Pass the Baton

**Author's Note:**

> This snippet would theoretically be found towards the beginning of the second fic if I were actually writing this diptych. As opposed to what I am doing, which is writing the scenes I want to write as I want to write them and ignoring everything else. :T
> 
> The second-person narration feels too disconnected to feel properly like Undyne to me, especially for the first exposition-filled part of things. I do kind of wonder whether switching to third person might make this read better. Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions!
> 
> (If you don't care about framing and want to skip the exposition, scroll down to the wide paragraph break.)

** Undyne **

Papyrus is definitely on the mend! It's been a few days since the coughing fits started to taper off, and for once, no new symptoms seem to be lining up to take their place.

Best of all, his energy seems to be coming back in spades.

Well... sort of best of all, at any rate. Papyrus seems set and determined to dive right back into as many activities as he can manage. For all that you strongly approve of the enthusiasm--(for all that it eases something tight and unhappy in your chest to know that he has the  _energy_   to get so enthused again)--after seeing just how thoroughly Papyrus will ignore what his body is telling him if he finds it inconvenient, you don't quite feel comfortable leaving him entirely to his own devices for too long a period of time yet.

Normally Sans seems perfectly content to at least tag along at Papyrus's heels (if not participate), and you would consider your friend to be in good hands and go back to your own life. But all of the sustained work from Papyrus's illness seems to have drained most of what motivation Sans did once have. Which leaves you. So you've been dropping by their place pretty regularly, or calling Papyrus when you can't, and it's... been really nice, actually, now that some of the stress has been taken out of the whole thing.

Honestly, you have to admit that at this point going to Papyrus's place feels a lot more like coming home than going to your own apartment does. You're pretty sure you've spent more time at his place than you've spent at your own apartment since coming to the surface--you've spent the past couple of weeks practically living there, after all. And you spent several weeks before that _literally_  living with Papyrus and his brother after your own house burned down, between Frisk taking the time to explore what seemed like every corner of the underground and all the time it took to sort out the logistics of actually transferring to the surface.

Sans might be an annoying roommate, and even Papyrus has some quirks that it took you a while to get used to, but they certainly manage to make practically anywhere their own. After Snowdin, a house on the surface was probably a piece of cake. Compare that to your own place and, well... You haven't managed to replace your piano, yet, and nothing feels  _personal_ there. Going home involves trudging past floors of unknown humans, and you have to be quiet or risk getting kicked out, and it's just... stifling. And empty. 

You can't help but imagine how much better things would be if you were going home to  _Alphys_ instead of an empty apartment, or maybe to her place, but... You're not quite there yet. It's all still too exciting and new. You're both flustered and dancing around each other on some issues, overeager with others, and overall just completely caught up in finally being able to act on your mutual attraction and the excitement of a "new" relationship. There just hadn't been enough time to (want to) get past that first flush before Papyrus got sick, and since then you've been busy and stressed, between work and the gym and everything else that's been going on.

You don't resent the delay, really. Friends are important. And it's not like you haven't still been spending plenty of time with Alphys. It just hasn't exactly been  _dating_ time, for the most part. It's been mutual hangouts with Papyrus time, or "I need to vent about being cooped up in that house (with Sans), _why_ did I think this was a good idea" time, or "my friend is in pain and there's nothing I can do about it and it's driving me crazy can we please watch anime and forget about things for a while" time.

The whole situation sucked, basically, and you are so freaking glad it's over.

You really need to set up some proper time with your girlfriend now that things have calmed down, though. Maybe the both of you can go to the beach again, or figure out when the next event is for that robot fight-club thing. (Or just look up some more videos of it.) Or maybe Alphys will have some ideas of her own!

 

 

For now, though, you're at Papyrus's house again. He'd actually been the one to come up with the current plan--"WE SHOULD THROW A SLUMBER PARTY! I REALLY OUGHT TO PUT THESE ABYSMALLY LONG NAPS TOWARDS AN APPROPRIATE PURPOSE AT LEAST ONCE." He'd called Frisk as well, and Frisk had invited MK, and you'd convinced Alphys to come too once she's done with work; the house should be nicely crowded in a few hours.

The kids will knock out a few forms of entertainment, though. And you know Alphys has been looking forward to watching Mew Mew Kissy Cutie with Frisk, so that will have to wait until she gets here. So now you're sprawled out on the ground beside the couch in the living room looking up slumber party activities on your phone. You were hoping to find something to tide the kids over that, ah, hopefully wouldn't end in you burning down another house, but so far most of the suggestions have sounded pretty boring.

You'd be  _on_ the couch, but Sans has been sleeping there since you got here, and he doesn't seem inclined to move anytime soon. Or to wake up, for that matter; you and Papyrus haven't exactly been trying to stay quiet. Papyrus has been bustling around doing housework; he was doing dishes earlier, and inventorying all the food in the house. Now he's banging around in the basement doing... something loud? You've honestly lost track.

"SANS!"

Sans twitches, mumbles out a "wh'zzit?," and then shifts to press his face into the couch. You're pretty sure denial is futile. Even yelling from downstairs, Papyrus is pretty darned loud.

"SANS!" Papyrus tries again. "WHERE DID YOU PUT THE WORKSHOP KEY?"

This time Sans shows a few more signs of life, rolling over onto his back with a quiet groan of complaint and scrubbing a hand past his eye sockets. "...uh. dunno, bro! probably my room somewhere?"

"WELL, GO GET IT! WE HAVE GUESTS ON THE WAY AND YOU'VE LEFT THE DOOR UNLOCKED! AND DO IT NOW, OR YOU'LL JUST FALL BACK ASLEEP!"

"uugh." Sans sighs, long and melodramatically put-upon, but miracle of miracles he  _does_ stand up and call an answer back to Papyrus. "alright, alright, i'm up--" He stops abruptly after just a few steps and says, much more quietly, "whoa. ok."

You set your phone aside and crane your head to get a better view, and are treated to the sight of Sans blinking off into space and looking distinctly dazed. You frown slightly, and haul yourself up onto your elbows. "...You okay, twerp?"

"fine, just--musta stood up too..." He blinks again, sways, and abruptly drops to the floor.

"What the heck," you say incredulously, scrambling upright so that you can see him again past the top of the coffee table. "Did you just  _faint?_ "

"DO NOT LET MY BROTHER BEGUILE YOU, UNDYNE! HE IS VERY FOND OF NAPPING ON THE FLOOR AT THE MOST INOPPORTUNE TIMES. WHEN THERE IS WORK AFOOT, IN PARTICULAR!"

"Really don't think that's it, Papyrus!" you call back, eyeing the skeleton on the floor. With how quickly Sans had gone down, you'd fully expected to find him sprawled full length and dead to the world. But he's just sitting there on his ankles, head bowed and both hands braced against the ground.

"You seriously just fainted, holy crap." You're not quite sure whether to find it hilarious or concerning. On the one hand, the number of ways you could poke fun at this are endless. On the other...

"nnnope. still awake. just, uh... sitting down now. seemed like a good idea. hhh. wow. ok." Sans trails off into a mutter that you doubt you were meant to hear. His voice is thin, and he doesn't make any move to get up even as you hop over the coffee table and start towards him.

"Close enough to count, if you ask me!"

As you reach Sans you catch Papyrus sticking his head out of the stairwell out of the corner of your eye. "YOU WOULD APPEAR TO BE CORRECT, UNDYNE! THAT IS NOT AN APPROPRIATE NAPPING POSITION EVEN FOR MY BROTHER'S BAFFLING HABITS. SANS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"i...  _might_ be a bit lightheaded," Sans concedes. "makes sense since i got nothing in my skull, though, right? heh." Papyrus makes an incoherent noise and starts towards you.

"No, it makes  _no_ sense  _because of_   you not having a brain," you complain. You push him back to lie on the ground anyway, because what else are you supposed to do? He doesn't put up a fight, just settles into the carpet, stares at the ceiling with unfocused eye lights, and rubs at his wrists and hands like he's trying to work feeling back into them. Papyrus comes up beside you and you feel his magic flicker in a brief CHECK. Responsibility handed off, you groan and flop back onto the ground with your arms spread wide.

"I," you inform the world at large, "have had  _enough_ sick skeleton in my life, understand? Sans, you are not allowed to be sick. That's an order!"

"what. you saying it'd be  _ill timed_ _?_ _"_ You can  _hear_ his shit-eating grin, and your glower intensifies until you'd be burning a hole in the ceiling if you could.

"OH MY GOD, SANS. STOP."

"no, no, i'm serious bro. she's sick of it, i can respect that."

" _SANS!_ THIS IS NOT THE TIME!" You sit up to put your glare to proper use and find Papyrus pulling his brother's head onto his lap, his expression anything but amused. It's not annoyed, either. If it's anything it's mildly horrified, and you can't blame him; this close, you can tell that there's something seriously wrong with Sans's magic even without a CHECK.

You can barely feel it at all, for starters. Which is  _weird as hell_. Sans is usually a roiling font of the stuff, enough of it beating along like a heartbeat that it reads as a passably healthy soul unless you know to look for the difference. (You hadn't. You had a sentry with  _1 HP_ and you  _didn't even know_ until it was beyond a moot point, and you  _still_ don't know whether to be enraged or horrified or impressed or simply exasperated.)

Sans continues undeterred, his eyes closed. "i guess you're right; you'd obviously be kind of sick of it too..." His smug smile fades when he cracks open one eye socket and takes in both of your expressions. "...no? ok. uh. those are some grim faces for a head rush, yikes."

"IT'S NOT THAT. YOU REALLY ARE GETTING SICK, AREN'T YOU? YOU'VE BEEN EXHAUSTED THE PAST FEW DAYS, AND YOUR MAGIC IS..."

"Your magic's barely even there, dude," you chime in. "That's a bit more than a head rush."

Sans grimaces, running a hand down his face with the dull click of bone against bone. "ugh. yeah, ok, probably. was kinda hopin' i was just tired from taking care of things while you were sick, but... i should be doing better by now." He sighs. "eh. guess i'll be laid up for a little while, 's no big deal. though... gonna have to get more time off work, somehow, that will be a pain..."

"I'm sorry, brother." Oh, no. No. Papyrus has no business sounding that remorseful. Shit.

Sans seems to agree with you--his sockets fly open at Papyrus's tone, and he hurries to sit up and turn to face his brother with more determination than grace. "hey. H e y.  None of that, bro, y'hear?"

The burst of energy seems to leave as suddenly as it came, replaced by fresh dizziness if the way he wobbles is anything to go by. He grabs onto Papyrus's shoulder for support, but continues doggedly. "it isn't your fault, no way. cool guy like you's got no business feeling guilty for stuff that's not his fault, ok?"

Papyrus stares at Sans for a moment, his expression still scared and regretful. Then he makes a visible effort to rally, clapping a hand to his brother's shoulder. "I KNOW! BUT, SANS, THIS ILLNESS IS NOT VERY FRIENDLY AT ALL. IT IS IN FACT THE LEAST OF FRIENDLIES, I THINK! I WOULD NOT WISH IT ON ANYONE TO START WITH, AND--YOUR HEALTH..."

Sans snorts softly. "you didn't lose a single HP the whole time, bro, 'cept when you fell over that once. i'll be fine. it's just about the safest thing i could catch, probably. sure, it'll suck, but... heh, sleeping it off won't be half the chore for me as it was for you, y'know."

"You dorks are assuming it's even the same thing," you grumble, finally sitting up to frown at the pair. You hate to undermine Sans's efforts at reassuring Papyrus, but the thought has been nagging at you. It would make sense for Sans to have caught Papyrus's illness off of him, of course, but... you've been watching the news. There's a  _lot_ going around right now. And: "Papyrus wasn't fainting at the start."

Sans shoots you a dirty look as Papyrus tenses right back up. "SHE'S RIGHT! AND YOU'RE RIGHT, TOO, ANYTHING ELSE ISN'T NEARLY AS SAFE! SANS, WHAT IF--YOU REMEMBER BEFORE, IT WAS--IT WAS FAR TOO CLOSE, AND THAT WAS  _BEFORE_ , WE NEED TO--"

"paps.  _Papyrus._ Deep breaths." Sans grabs Papyrus's jaw, tugs it down so that Papyrus looks at him. Papyrus blinks, hiccups--shit, is he  _tearing up?_ Sans keeps going in a stern monotone. "Look. See? I'm fine. I'm right here, nothing's happening right now. Breathe."

Papyrus nods, crying a lot more freely now and scrubbing fitfully at his sockets.

Ooookay. You really feel like you're missing something. Several somethings.

You chew at your lip, trying to decide how to Feelings. You don't want to go all guard captain on Papyrus right now, he's your  _friend_ , but that's the only framework you have for situations like this. Meanwhile, Sans seems to decide that he's gotten Papyrus's attention well enough and sags sideways into his brother's chest.

That or he ran out of energy, even with an upset Papyrus to motivate him. You still can't feel his magic.

...magic.

"I'M MAKING TEA!" you yell, leaping to your feet and striding towards the kitchen. "So you nerds better have tea! Or I'm gonna have to  __IMPROVISE!"

**Author's Note:**

> Someday I’ll update Papyrus’s reaction towards the end here. He’s a bit more emotionally reactive than me, but still; my experience with having a sibling with a health condition that has the potential to go south fatally at random times is that you, uh, learn to deal with the scares in a somewhat functional manner.


End file.
